By CARL HULSE

Published: November 22, 2006

Forget those pesky leadership fights. The folks who run Congress are now getting down to what really matters on Capitol Hill: dividing up the office space.

In something of a break with recent tradition, the incoming Democratic speaker, Nancy Pelosi of California, is planning to expropriate the second-floor suite of offices now occupied by the current speaker, J. Dennis Hastert -- a handful of rooms providing a spectacular view of the Mall.

That space has been in Republican hands for 50 years or so, even when Democrats were in charge. In fact, the main offices are so strongly associated with Republicans that they were officially designated the Robert H. Michel Rooms by the House in 1995 in honor of the popular former Republican leader.

While there might be some private grumbling by Republicans about the Democratic land grab, even Mr. Michel sees nothing wrong with Ms. Pelosi wanting to move into his namesake space.

''The speaker is the speaker,'' Mr. Michel said in an interview. ''They reign supreme over on the House side, and they can pretty much do anything they want to.''

While Democrats are moving up, Republicans are downsizing, abandoning their preferred spots and planning to squeeze into the current, tighter digs of the Democrats.

Even as Republicans were voting last week on their new leaders, a couple of top staff members from the office of the current majority leader, Representative John A. Boehner of Ohio, just happened to stop by Ms. Pelosi's office to visit with some Democratic friends -- and take a peek at their likely new quarters. Mr. Boehner will be minority leader when the new Congress convenes in January.

And on Monday, the new Democratic majority leader, Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland, toured Mr. Boehner's present offices on the first floor of the Capitol to see where his furniture might go. Note to President Bush: No word on whether any drapes were measured.

Vice President Dick Cheney might also come out a loser in this literal floor fight. Democrats have an eye on an office on the House side that Republicans granted to him as a kind of second home in the Capitol, to complement his office on the other wing of the building, where, by virtue of the Constitution, he presides over the Senate (he has no formal role in the House). Representative Charles B. Rangel, Democrat of New York, is interested in reclaiming Mr. Cheney's House space for the Ways and Means Committee.

Given the finite amount of space in the landmark building and the natural competitiveness of politicians, office space has always been currency in the Capitol. Lawmakers leverage their majority and seniority for the top views, the most convenience and suitably impressive surroundings to dazzle their constituents, supporters and even themselves. To many members of Congress and their equally status-conscious staffs, you are where you sit.

To Democrats, one of the chief fringe benefits of the coming takeover is that they will no longer be at the logistical mercy of Republicans. In fact, one of Ms. Pelosi's best applause lines during last week's leadership elections was when she raised the subject of a room for future Democratic meetings. ''We can have any room we want now,'' she told her approving colleagues.

Even as it became apparent that Democrats could regain the majority, Republicans were starting to wonder if Ms. Pelosi might be interested in the speaker's rooms. On Monday she toured the offices that Mr. Hastert has called home, and aides said she was inclined to grab them.

Democratic aides say it is mainly a matter of needing more space, especially since the construction of a visitors' center on the east front of the Capitol cut into current Democratic space, including the offices that had been the center of House power when Speaker Thomas P. O'Neill Jr. ruled. Democratic leadership aides are scattered around the building, including a makeshift office in a renovated part of what had been the members' dining room.

''We have offices tucked away on four different floors,'' said Jennifer Crider, a spokeswoman for Ms. Pelosi, who said the new offices would allow the staff to be consolidated.

But there are other perquisites. The office now occupied by Mr. Hastert faces the Mall and comes with a balcony that has been the scene of many a reception, staff party and occasional marriage proposal while providing great viewing of the Fourth of July fireworks.

Mr. Michel said the offices came under a long-term Republican lease back in the mid-1950s when Sam Rayburn of Texas decided that his Republican counterpart, Joseph Martin of Massachusetts, could stay there after he was ousted as speaker when Democrats regained control.

''When I first got elected in 1956, I went in to see Joe, and it was in one of those little anterooms,'' said Mr. Michel, who would later occupy the offices for 14 years.

Despite the appeal of the suite, Democrats in those days preferred their rooms along the East Front, closer to the House floor and the better to keep an eye on things before the days of C-Span and instant messaging. After Mr. Martin and before Mr. Michel, the rooms also housed the operations of the Republican leaders Charles Halleck, Gerald R. Ford and John Rhodes.

Republicans were surprised when Democrats did not eventually try to reclaim the offices, particularly when Thomas S. Foley became speaker in 1989. But he decided to stay in the offices he had had redecorated while he served as Democratic majority leader.

Then, when Republicans swept to control in 1994, the offices became the speaker's. Ms. Pelosi appears to believe they should remain that way. And several Republicans said they did not begrudge her the right.

''I am an old-fashioned guy and believe the spoils go to the victor if she wants it,'' said Representative Jack Kingston, Republican of Georgia.

The election did not set off the same office go-round in the Senate; the leaders there tend to retain their offices no matter which party is in charge.

In the House, the departure of lawmakers also set off a lottery for new quarters for their home-state Congressional offices in the adjacent office buildings. Even veteran lawmakers sought to upgrade their suites.

In fact, Ms. Pelosi received a new office there as well, taking the space to be vacated by Mr. Hastert's Illinois Congressional office when the outgoing speaker decided he needed more room since he would no longer have any in the Capitol.

Photos: Mr. Hastert in his office in 2000. (Photograph by Justin Lane of the The New York Times)

Chart/Diagram: ''Location, Location, Location''
''We can have any room we want now,'' said Representative Nancy Pelosi, when she raised the subject of a room for future Democratic meetings last week. And as the incoming speaker of the House, Ms. Pelosi wants the second-floor suite of offices now occupied by the current speaker, J. Dennis Hastert, a handful of rooms providing a view of the Mall.

Representative Charles B. Rangel, Democrat of New York and the expected chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, has his eye on Vice President Dick Cheney's office on the House side. The room has traditionally been used by the committee, but the current chairman has allowed Mr. Cheney to use it.

Ms. Pelosi currently occupies rooms near the east front of the building, facing away from the Mall.